World Cinema Series

Queen of Montreuil

Returning home to France from Vietnam, Agathe (Florence Loiret-Caille) tries to restart her life in the wake of her husband’s death. But finding joy turns out to be much harder than choosing a resting place for his ashes. While sitting in the customs office she strikes up an unlikely friendship with an aging Icelandic mother and her poet son looking for their lost luggage. Together the duo help her find meaning in a rogue sea lion that comes to live in Agathe’s apartment—according to Icelandic myth, the souls of deceased kings come to rest in the bodies of sea lions.

A tender and witty comedy that also doubles as a love letter from Icelandic-American director Sólveig Anspach to the Parisian suburb of Montreuil, Queen of Montreuil explores the roots of Anspach’s ancestral and adoptive homes.